Victor Frankenstein (2015 film)

Copyright: 20th Century Fox

Our final Frankenstein Week post, we have the most recent big budget film, Victor Frankenstein.  A bit of a change-up in this one, as we get a different point of view.  Not from the Doctor himself, not from the creation, but from the traditional assistant, Igor.  In this version, however, we find that the assistant is as intelligent as the Doctor, if not more so at times.

We open on the circus where the unnamed hunchback has been working all his life as a clown.  In his spare time, he's swiped medical books and tried to learn something about medicine, despite his roommate's ridicule.  One night, while the trapeze performer, Lorelei, was doing her act, the trapeze rope breaks and she falls to the floor of the tent, critically injuring herself.  The hunchback rushes to her side, along with a spectator from the audience, a doctor, who assesses her injuries and says there's nothing they can do for her, as her injuries are preventing her from breathing.  The hunchback, not to be balked, asks to see the doctor's watch, as he needs it to help her.  With the doctor's help, the hunchback is about to set both the broken bone and the dislocation, freeing up her airway and saving her life.  The doctor, Frankenstein, helps the other workers take her to the hospital.  Meanwhile, the owner and ringmaster locks the hunchback in one of the animal cages to prevent him from leaving, along with burning his medical books.

A little later, Frankenstein returns and uses a magnet to pick the lock on the cage, then leads the hunchback through an action packed chase through the circus, dodging away from the workers who the ringmaster's sent to try to stop them.  Eventually escaping, Frankenstein takes the hunchback back to his quarters and then assaults him... or so he thinks.  He actually drains the fluid from his back, caused by an abscess, then gives him a back brace he says was originally for "Gordon".  The last thing he does for the hunchback... he gives him a name, Igor, telling him that the name belonged to his roommate, who's disappeared.

The film goes on to show the interactions between Igor and Victor, at first just on a sort of student/mentor relationship (respectively), but when Igor shows his own aptitude towards understanding both how the human body works, and how to manipulate the energy needed towards Frankenstein's work's needs, Victor upgrades their relationship to master and assistant, then to full partner before they reveal Gordon to the school.

This movie was pretty fun.  There was a lot of action in places, and I found the interactions between Igor and Victor, and later Igor and Lorelei after she recovers, really interesting.  Victor was hilarious at places, trying to push his views on anyone who will listen, especially after he's had a little to drink (and after telling Igor not to embarrass him!).  The two actors work off pretty well.  The nemesis to Dr. Frankenstein, Inspector Turpin, was an interesting case, also, sort of like a mix of Inspector Javert from Les Miserables with a witch hunter: he believes in God's righteous fury against those with blasphemous views, and he'll stand at nothing to bring that wrath to whoever he feels holds them.

Playing as Igor is Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe.  He did a really good job here.  He was also in Woman in Black and Horns, along with the recent release Swiss Army Man.  Playing Victor Frankenstein himself is James McAvoy.  He was pretty funny here, at times, especially when playing the drunk at the party.  He was in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as portraying Professor X in the recent X-Men films from First Class up to Apocalypse.  In a scene, portraying Victor's father, the Baron, was Charles Dance who we saw in last week's Dracula Untold as the Master Vampire.

All in all, a pretty fun movie, one I was happy to watch and review.  I happily give it a 4 out of 5.  Well, with the end of Frankenstein Week, we'll have a different subject next week, but I don't want to let you know ahead of time.  Until then, take care, and this is Red Hawk signing out!